Thyroid cancer in the Ukraine

The Chernobyl Accident and its Consequences

“…Through cooperative investigations, the health status and dosimetric data were obtained to provide grounds for assessing the consequences. First reports about the increase of thyroid cancer incidence in children and adolescents in Belarus and in Ukraine [57,58] were met cautiously by the experts because of doubts in the accuracy of diagnosis, too short period of latency (which would expected to be about 10 years as seen from A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and insufficient evidence of link between Chernobyl radiation and cancer outbreak. With time, however, essential proof was found and the efforts of both health authorities in the three most affected countries and of the international parties could be better focused on the high-risk groups and using more specialized means.…”

Lessons learned from the study of immigrants to Israel from areas of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine contaminated by the Chernobyl accident.

“…Together with Dr. Jason Wynberg of the University of Toronto, we initiated an investigation of children from the affected regions because of a) the presumed higher sensitivity of children to ionizing radiation; b) their high consumption of dairy products; c) the increased prevalence of goiter among residents of these iodine-deficient regions (16)(17)(18); d) the unknown contribution to dose of the short-lived radioisotopes of iodine; and e) the reported increase of thyroid cancer in children living in Belarus, Ukraine, and southern Russia (3)(4)(5).…”

Breast cancer in Belarus and Ukraine after the Chernobyl accident

“…Several years after the accident, a dramatic increase in thyroid cancer in persons exposed in childhood and adolescence was reported. [1][2][3] This increase has been clearly linked to radiation exposure from the Chernobyl accident. 4,5 In recent years, an increase in breast cancer incidence has also been reported in regions of Belarus and Ukraine contaminated by the Chernobyl accident.…”